Attacks on Florence

The Attacks on Florence (1498) were a series of raids launched by Borgia mercenaries against the city of Florence at the time of the Bonfire of the Vanities in 1498. Pope Alexander VI kept sending his Papal soldiers into Florence, and Florence kept sending them back to Rome, usually in pieces; the attacks would fail in overthrowing the radical theocracy led by Girolamo Savonarola.

History
In 1494, the fanatical Catholic monk Girolamo Savonarola seized power in Florence following the deposition of Piero de Medici by King Charles VIII of France, and he spoke out against the corruption of the Borgia papacy and the Florentine banks, sodomy, and opulence. He attempted to "cleanse Florence of her sin", and he started the "Bonfire of the Vanities" to burn luxurious items, secular art, and even witches. Pope Alexander VI, the subject of many of Savonarola's vicious verbal abuses, sought to destroy this important source of opposition to his papacy, and he appointed his son, Cardinal Cesare Borgia, to the task of quieting the monk. In 1498, Pope Alexander began to send mercenaries against the city of Florence at the time of the Bonfire of the Vanities, hoping to overthrow the monk's rule. However, Savonarola had the support of several black-clad soldiers, who fought off the mercenaries. Heaps of Borgia mercenaries lay dead in the streets as the result of the skirmishes, with fighting taking place across the city. Many dismembered Borgia bodies were sent back to Rome as a sign of defiance, and the fighting continued until Ezio Auditore da Firenze, an enemy of both Savonarola and the Pope, killed Savonarola's lieutenants and slew the monk himself.